Uzi Death Video: Boy's Fatal Shooting to be Viewed by Jury, Mass. Judge Rules
SPRINGFIELD, Mass. (CBS/AP) Jurors will be allowed to see the video and hear the accompanying audio of an 8-year-old boy losing control of an Uzi submachine gun and accidentally shooting himself to death, a Massachusetts judge ruled Tuesday
A lawyer for former western Massachusetts police chief Edward Fleury, who is about to stand trial in the October 2008 death of Christopher Bizilj at a Westfield gun fair, argued unsuccessfully Monday that the video would provoke too much emotion from jurors and prejudice them against his client.
The video shows the 8-year-old Bizilj (bah-SEEL), of Ashford, Con. stepping up to the firing range to shoot an Uzi while his father and 11-year-old brother watch from a few feet away. As Christopher fired the micro submachine gun at a pumpkin, he lost control of the weapon and it flipped backward and shot him in the head. He was pronounced dead at the hospital.Fleury is being charged in the boy's death because he owns the company that co-sponsored the gun fair at the Sportman's Club. He has pleaded not guilty to involuntary manslaughter plus four counts of furnishing a machine gun to a minor.
The gun club and Carl Giuffre and Domenico Spano, the two men who supplied the guns, also face involuntary manslaughter charges. Both men are awaiting trial and have pleaded not guilty.
Hamden Superior Court Judge Peter Velis did not decide whether jurors would also be able to see and hear the immediate aftermath of the shooting, in which the cries of the boy's father are audible.
Fleury faces a maximum of 20 years in prison if convicted on the manslaughter charge and a maximum of 10 years if convicted of furnishing the weapon to a minor.
Jury selection began Tuesday and the trial is expected to last about a week.